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Ancestor: Zootoca vivipara (Common Lizard) 

Descendants: Shadowbacks

Size: 25 cm from nose to tail.

Dietary Needs: Needs animal protein if not any other way then they at least need invertebrate prey, but young lizards are also targeted as a rich food source. However they can get by for a limited time on fruit and even corn. They also raid the nests of the relic egg-laying lizards that get by in dry environments.

Life Cycle: They have similar reproductive habits of their ancestors, where the smaller males compete for mating with a female, while the larger females are more competitive for birthing spaces and to defend their offspring from other females looking to restore lost energy from growing their own young. The females maintain a territory where their young can forage safely in the grass, and she will chase out any other females. She can recognise her own young by smell and will not eat them, but will eat the young of competing females with vengeance. The young scatter on their own eventually as their mother does not help them to find food, they eventually need to start searching further for it.

Compared to other lizard species, females produce fewer young and invest more into their survival by defending them. However young are still small, because the female is not internally equipped to nourish them and has limited capacity for gas exchange. Although grown internally young still feed off a yolk sac.

Other: Although they look like they have good defence, the spiky scales only offer minimal protection from an aggressor's attack. They are actually quite sensitive as they help exchange heat between the body and outside air each using a web of blood vesicles. It can flick it's tail at a possible behind attacker, but this is mainly a distraction or to stun so they can make their escape, like a slap in the face. The tail is not as hard or powerful as it looks.

That said relative to other lizards they are more hassle for a predator to hunt. If the scales aren't a deterrent, the charging, open-mouthed hissing and chomping might be. They also push their bodies high off the ground on all fours and arch their back to make themselves look bigger.